The Other Occupant
by aleezakq2
Summary: Hatake Kakashi has been on a life long mission to retrieve his lover of twelve years ago. The Hokage had long since pronounced her dead, despite the missing body, but Kakashi has a nagging suspicion that there's more to her disappearance than what they've been allowed to hear. A/U? maybe. Kakashi x OC. Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (and it's characters). Only my OC.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The violent rustling of scrunched documents could be heard throughout the entire apartment complex. It had been going on for over two hours now, and he was sure that if there had been other occupants in his apartment, he/she would have indefinitely set those god-for-saken papers ablaze. But luckily for Kakashi, he lived alone.

Many say that it's what he prefers and the former ANBU often leads others to believe just that. What with his quiet demeanor and masked face, one would think he loathes company. Not that they're entirely wrong though because very few know Hatake Kakashi as person deep down. Sure, his peers are aware, if only faintly, of the tragedies of his past but only a handful are comprehensive of the toll it's taken on Kakashi as a man. As a human.

"Damn it." Kakashi resisted the urge to slam his fists down for the umpteenth time that day. Besides, why should his poor coffee table suffer the aftermath of a long day of hard work and no results? _Nothing. Absolutely nothing. How can someone just disappear off the face of the Earth like that? _Kakashi's eyebrow would not stop twitching at the sheer frustration of it all. This mystery was, unfortunately, proving far too difficult to solve, even for a man of such high caliber, much like Kakashi. But to his dissatisfaction, he could not ask anyone for assistance. _It's times like these where I wish I had let __**someone **__in on it. It's far too late for that now. No one's going to agree to something __this__ incredulous._

Deciding to settle in the for the night, Kakashi took a moment to stand up and just _stretch. _A cacophony of popping noises filled the silence of his apartment, shortly followed by a cat like mewl. As a last attempt to draw out results, Kakashi decided to go over his notes just once more before shelving them away for the night. Glancing at the first page of his notes, he found that he could no longer continue reading. His one exposed eye was glued to the name printed before him, and the nostalgia of the name had thrust him back into a painful past that he did not have the energy to reminisce. In a way that made him feel guilty, even if it was momentary, because he felt that he had just dishonored his lovers precious memory.

_Fujimoto Mizuki. Where exactly are you?_

* * *

**_A/N: I should have mentioned this earlier, but this is actually a chapter story and not a one shot. I know, really short chapter. But I'm still working on the second one ad hopefully that one will be longer and far more detailed. Although, if you're looking for instant action, you won't find it here. I'm going to ease my way into the plot so that it can be understood better. :)_**

Read and review please. :D


	2. Chapter 2

"Did Kakashi do something to make you all second guess your decision to invite him?"

"It's nothing like that...it's just that he's been rather..."

A stretch of eternity.

"..distant".

"Thank you, Asuma".

"Hmmm".

Genma stood silently and watched Kurenai and Asuma slowly become uncomfortable. Quite frankly, he wouldn't have been surprised by their reaction had he said something worth reacting to, but he just couldn't fathom what could possibly make the two jounin (elite ones at that) squirm at the mere mention of Kakashi, of ALL people. _Is there a threesome I don't know about? Damn, I always miss the good stuff._ Genma was snapped out his perverted daze when he realized he was still staring at his fellow comrades. In an effort to deflect suspicion, he quickly plastered on a cheeky smile and said, "Are you two hiding something?" Stretching the cheeky smile even wider, he continued, "It's not uncommon for two lotus flowers to be blossoming come spring." _There. That oughta steer them in a different direction. I'm not perverted...I'm not, I'm not, I'm not..._

"Huh?" Kurenai and Asuma were looking at him as if he'd grown another head, oblivious to his inner chanting. "Since when did **you** know big words like 'blossoming'?" By the end of her sentence, Kurenai herself had a cheeky smile of her own and it seemed to be the right thing to say considering how easily it deflected Genma's attention. It wasn't that she was afraid to make her feelings public, for she and Asuma had been dating for a while, even if it was secretly. But she wasn't ready to make their relationship all that public yet. She wanted to savor the intimacy between her and Asuma, it was like having a little spark that no one else but she and him could see.

"I'll have you know that my vocabulary is extremely extensive," said Genma. He was not about to lose his integrity as a skilled jounin because of some 'big word' that he supposedly did not know. "I'm a highly respected Jounin of Konohagakure and I will not lose my status as an intelligent man because you doubted the expanse of my vocabulary".

This time, it was Asuma who chimed in, but he shared none of the humour, signaling to them that there were more pressing matters to attend. "That's all great Genma, but to get back to your original question, Kakashi is in no state to be interacting with friends or colleagues. He's a little out of it, for lack of better words. He's been deemed unstable for the time being."

Having had their playful banter cut off, Kurenai and Genma had also taken on a solemn look. What the smoker said took a while to process and soon they were both struggling to understand how someone like Kakashi, the guy who always had complete and utter control over his mind and body, could be deemed unstable. After a long pause of nothing, Genma was the first to break the silence, "Well this is absolute news to me. What on Earth brought this on so suddenly?" "Unstable? I thought when the Sandaime said that, he just meant that Kakashi was exhausted", said Kurenai. She was looking at Asuma incredulously, hoping that what he said didn't mean exactly what it sounded like. "He's not...mentally ill...i-is he?" Her uncertainty and hesitance alerted Asuma immediately of what was going through her head, and as desperately as he wanted to console his girlfriend, it would do no justice to the situation at hand to leave out key details regarding their friend's health and stability.

"Well, he's not suffering from any prominent mental illnesses, as far as I know, but he is suffering from some kind of psychological stress, enough to make him lose his focus in the most unholiest of times. At least, this is what I've been told by the Hokage and his most trusted medical professionals." Asuma himself had been initially shocked to hear such news about his famed comrade and friend and it took him a while to come to terms with it too. Not long after, he was forced to come to the conclusion that it was very much likely true, seeing as the observations and the diagnosis came from credible men who were well versed in the ways of human behaviour. Added on to the fact that his father trusted them, therefore he had no other reason to doubt such knowledgeable people.

"Well I suppose that's better than what I originally thought. He is going to be okay though, right?" asked Kurenai. She couldn't help but feel intense worry for the man, despite not having known him to the extent that Gai or Asuma did, but he was still her friend and she would never wish an illness to fall upon any of them.

"I guess it's hard to say at the moment, no one's really seen him in a while", said Asuma, cigarette lightly propped between his lips as it delicately bounced with the formation of his words. "Ne, Genma. You okay? You got quiet all of a sudden".

Genma, who had been deep in thought for his friend, was caught off guard by Asuma's question. "Huh? Y-yea. I'm ok. I just...I don't know. Kakashi always seemed so in control of his life, I suppose I'm just a little taken aback from all of this."

A look of sympathy flashed across Asuma's face as he remembered his reaction to the news as well. "It's a little tough to wrap your head around but you'll eventually come to terms with it, whether you like it or not."

"You speak as though from experience."

"I am."

* * *

Kakashi lay in bed as the gentle rays of sunlight streamed through his window. It was exactly what he didn't want to see at the moment. Shutting his eyes tighter and rolling away from the light, he brought the covers up to his face and vigorously buried his head in his soft, plushy pillow. After a few moments of just lying there, he found that sleep was not going to return, and even if it did, it would lack the same blissful feeling that was present when he went to bed last night heavy as a brick.

Kakashi abruptly turned back around and glanced at the window. His eyes squinted at the onslaught of light and he found himself deeply troubled by the sunlight coming in. Though it looked like a promising day, Kakashi knew it would be anything but promising. And that disappointed him, greatly. He wanted to be able to feel that hope once more, just like he used to for the first few years after Mizuki had gone missing. He used to gaze up at the clear blue sky, lightened by the crisp air and energetic winds. He used to think that a beautiful day meant beautiful opportunities. But as the years went by and he was no closer to finding Mizuki than he was at first, that little glimmer of hope gradually began to fade.

Unable to adjust to the brightness, Kakashi grunted and got out of bed. He stalked up to the windows, promptly brought the curtains together, turned around and dived right back into bed. It wasn't that he was still tired but the prospect of facing people and having to interact was making him nauseous. But the nausea went away as quickly as it came because Kakashi had forgotten one crucial detail. He was, according to the doctors, "unfit for active shinobi duty as a result of overwhelming psychological stress". The thought made him laugh, a bitter one at that, and he soon remembered that as result of this "stress", he was confined to the walls of his apartment and was strongly advised against outings. He wanted to laugh out loud at that one. _'Strongly advised' is pretty much synonymous to an order. I'm stuck in the house whether I want to be or not. Stuck in my constant loneliness until I'm allowed to be less lonely. How dumb._

Figuring that it would do him no good to stay in bed and risk being in a perpetual state of sulking, Kakashi eventually got out from under the covers and got dressed for the day...well, breakfast. He stepped into the kitchen and swiftly began making some ramen and onigiri. _Onigiri dipped in ramen was her favourite breakfast._ Despite having poked fun at her for her odd choice of breakfast combinations, Kakashi often found himself eating exactly that every morning.

* * *

**AN: I know, this chapter seems so weird and kinda bleh but I felt like writing and so I just kept writing without any specific plot in mind and this chapter just sorta happened. Also it's like 1:11 in the morning and my coherent sentences machine in my brain office is sorta malfunctioning. LOL so I'm gonna end it here. Next chapter hopefully has a little more action and a little more drama and hopefully a less angsty kakashi. **  
**I'll get into the detail of this "psychological stress" in the next chap and probably start introducing Mizuki's character a little more as well. **

**Please try not to think of Mizuki (The guy that tried to kill Naruto in the first episode) while reading this because I did and I was so confused. :P **

**Forgive me for any OOCness. It is kind of an AU so I suppose I can play around with the personalities a bit. **


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